530
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Sphks@jlai.lu 4 points 2 weeks ago

Most of atoms can't be find as a pure form (metal/crystal or pair). You may have licked magnesium oxyde (MgO), but not magnesium as an explosive metal.

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Ah, I see I've fallen for the classic ambiguity - I was assuming the vast chemistry arena we were licking things in was not a frictionless vacuum. Yes, it's hypothetically pyrophoric with water; though it would require some prodegious amounts of slobber (or some small amount of effort) to produce that effect just by licking it - and I'm not entirely sure how well human salivary glands operate under vacuum conditions....

[-] Liz@midwest.social 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I guess that's true, your salvia probably isn't penetrating the oxide layer with enough vigor to be too much of a concern. Don't eat it though!

https://youtube.com/shorts/Kk9rderPRnE

this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
530 points (97.8% liked)

Science Memes

20807 readers
1520 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS